Saturday, January 31, 2026
Phil 1c
Christian nationalism. How do we live in our pagan world? Do we violently assume power and demand all conform to our Christian beliefs
In a sense this is an extreme somewhat envisioned in Trumpism.
Or do we as Christians in Australia subjected now to no longer express our beliefs on social issues through hate speech laws retreat into communes where we live by our own rules in isolation from the surrounding pagan communities such as the Christian communes in underground bunkers at Nyngan in the 70's?
We aren't the first to struggle with these issues.
Pauls struggles and sufferings brought him to naturally encourage the Christians at Philippi to live as citizens of the colony of heaven in the midst of a pagan world. Polit. Citizens just like Philippi was a colony of Rome in the middle of Greece so we live in conformity to heaven in the midst of a pagan persecuting world.
How can you do this ?
Stand like a soldier
Strive like an athlete
Suffer as a Christian
Struggle like a wrestler.
1. Stand
It is one thing to live the Christian life when our support system is intact. When the people who have discipled us are standing by, we feel secure. Unlike many leaders of our day, Paul desired for his converts a spirit of independence. He knew that he would not always be available to help them.
One of the great illustrations of a consistent lifestyle is the Old Testament character Daniel, who proved that it is possible to maintain one's integrity even when totally isolated. As a young man, he was carried away captive to the city of Babylon. For seventy years he endured the pressures of a pagan culture. In the first chapter of the book that bears his name, we are given a simple description of his integrity. "Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus" (Dan. 1:21).
Throughout all the captivity, during all the troubles of his nation, through intrigues, envies, murders, and persecutions, Daniel continued.
Most of all, Paul wished the Philippians to understand that they would not be able to survive the pressures alone. They must stand fast in the Lord, but they would need to do so while joining hands with each other. Paul sounded the challenge to stand fast in many of his other letters as well.
To the Corinthians he wrote, "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong" (1 Cor. 16:13).
To the Galatians he wrote, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5:1).
To the Thessalonians he wrote, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15).
Winston Churchill once wrote about British General Tudor, who commanded a division facing the great German assault of March 1918: "The impression I had of Tudor was of an iron peg, hammered into the frozen ground, immovable."6 In the war the odds were heavily against him, but Tudor knew how to meet an apparently irresistible force. He merely stood firm and let the force expend itself on him. That is how Paul wanted his friends in Philippi to respond to the pressures around them.
While the apostle was concerned about the attitude of the believers toward those who were outside the fellowship, he was also concerned about the love of the believers for those inside of the fellowship. He shared that concern again later on in this letter (Phil. 2:2–3; 4:1). It is also conveyed in many of the letters that he wrote to the other churches (Rom. 12:5–12; 1 Cor. 1:10; 10:17; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:11–22; 4:3–4, 13).
2. Strive together. Cooperation
In his book A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanauken expresses a similar thought:
The best argument for Christianity is Christians—their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But when the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians, when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.5
While the apostle was concerned about the attitude of the believers toward those who were outside the fellowship, he was also concerned about the love of the believers for those inside of the fellowship. He shared that concern again later on in this letter (Phil. 2:2–3; 4:1). It is also conveyed in many of the letters that he wrote to the other churches (Rom. 12:5–12; 1 Cor. 1:10; 10:17; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:11–22; 4:3–4, 13).
When he instructed them to "strive together," he used the word from which we get our word "athlete." This is a special unity of striving together or struggling side by side
3. Suffer
demonstrate courage beyond what they personally possessed. He provided guidelines to help them accurately identify those times and to draw strength from each other and from Christ.
Courage to Encounter Persecution
Paul warned the Philippians not to be terrified by their enemies. The word "terrified" was used of horses that were frightened or spooked into an uncontrollable stampede. It is inward fear caused by an outward stimulus. This is the only place in the New Testament where this particular word is used, and it is very appropriate for the little group of believers living in Philippi during a violent period of history.
We are not told who the adversaries are, but they could easily be the ones Paul described later as "dogs, … evil workers.… the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction.
This courage in the face of opposition is a double-edged sword. It is evidence of the believers' salvation and of their enemies' doom. The inability of their enemies to intimidate them becomes proof of the genuineness of their faith.
Most scholars date Paul's writing of the Philippian letter around AD 60–63. If this is accurate, then the pressure in the Roman Empire was growing. For it was in July AD 64 that Emperor Nero surpassed himself in cruelty when he ordered his servants to set fire to Rome. Tacitus, one of the few eyewitness historians of that day, tells about it:
Consequently, to get rid of the report (that he had ordered the fire), Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace.
Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a deadly superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea
hideous and shameful from every part of the world meet and become popular.
Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who confessed [Christ]; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of arson, as of hatred of the human race. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses or were doomed to the flames.8
No doubt some of those who read this letter from Paul would experience this suffering. Then they would remember Paul's words and remember that he too had suffered as a prisoner and had maintained the integrity of his faith.
Courage to Endure Pain
Paul regarded suffering for Christ as a privilege. In fact, twice in these last verses of chapter 1, he referred to persecution as a gift from God. In verse 28 we are told that to suffer is "from God." In verse 29 we read that "it has been granted on behalf of Christ …
John Huss (1369–1415) was the rector of Prague University when he was thrown into prison for advocating the doctrines of the Reformation. Two weeks before he was martyred for his faith, Huss wrote these words from his prison cell:
I am greatly consoled by that saying of Christ, "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you." … It bids us rejoice in these tribulations.… It is easy to read it aloud and expound it, but difficult to live out.…
O Most Holy Christ … give me a fearless heart, a right faith, a firm hope, a perfect love, that for Thy sake I may lay down my life with patience and joy. Amen!9
For John Huss and for Paul, and even for each of us, such suffering is a choice that we make. That is not to say that we can choose to avoid pain, but rather that we may select the reasons for our suffering
Josef Tson. Josef was the pastor of the largest Baptist church in Romania during the days when the communists ruled his country. In 1973, he published a document that described how the communist government had obstructed religious freedom in his land. As the result of his brave disclosure, he was singled out for persecution and harassment. On one occasion, they threatened him with torture and death. This was his courageous response;
Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Here is how it works. You know that my sermons on tape have spread all over the country. If you kill me,
these sermons will be sprinkled with my blood. Everyone will know I died for my preaching.… So, sir, my sermons will speak ten times louder than before. I will actually rejoice in this supreme victory if you kill me.
Struggle
Courage to Emulate Paul
Paul realized that suffering was no longer an abstract term for the Philippians. Many of them had seen him suffer when the church at Philippi had been started. There he had been hounded by a demon-possessed girl, slandered, mobbed, stripped, beaten, and thrown into a dungeon. The courage these Philippians would need in the future was the kind they had observed in Paul during his adversity. I am certain that some of the readers of this letter wondered if they would be brave enough to stand when their time came.
In calling this persecution "conflict," Paul used the word from which we get our word "agony." It described the strenuous struggles of athletic contests. Paul employed the same word in his charge to Timothy: "Fight the good fight [agona] of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12). At the end of his life, Paul wrote, "I have fought the good fight [agona]" (2 Tim. 4:7).
Paul believed that persecution would be the lot of the believer until the end, and that "we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). But he also encourages us with the promise that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). In fact, he says that rather than being a setback, suffering is a stepping stone. "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us" (2 Tim. 2:12).
It is often very difficult for us to maintain a positive attitude when adversity and pressures prevail. Paul wanted the trying circumstances to spur these believers on to greater victory and joy.
Some of the world's greatest men and women have been saddled with disabilities and adversities, but they have managed to overcome them and go on to greatness. They teach us that circumstances do not make us what we are, but reveal what we are.
Churchill
The Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us on this island or lose the war.…
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, "This was their finest hour."
More than anything else, Paul wanted the Philippians to stand strong so that whether he was with them or absent from them, they would be triumphant in Christ.
# posted by Groseys messages @ 9:18 PM 
